Testify!

HHS STAND Testifies at the State House in favor of H420

On Thursday, October 31, eight members of Harwich High School STAND (Students Taking Action Now: Darfur) traveled to the State House in Boston to testify before the Joint Committee on Education in favor of H420: An Act Promoting Genocide Education. Five members presented coordinated testimony making the case for requiring students to learn about multiple genocides to raise awareness and pressure world leaders to take action to end genocide. The members of the committee expressed their admiration for the students presentation, and encouraged us to lobby the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education on this matter as well. After testifying, the students met with Sen. Wolf and Rep. Peake to discuss the issue with them. Thank you to our legislators for taking the time to listen to our concerns, and thank you to Sen. Wolf's office for a wonderful pizza lunch! Congratulations to the students for their excellent advocacy!

Testimony of Harwich High School STAND in Favor of H420 An Act Concerning Genocide Education - October 31, 2013

Introduction (Graham Smith)

Good morning. We as representatives of Harwich High School STAND (Students Taking Action Now: Darfur) are here to testify in favor of House bill 420, An Act Concerning Genocide Education.

STAND is a worldwide network of students that is attempting to end genocide. Our chapter has participated in many anti-genocide projects. One of these has been to advocate for Genocide Education. We believe that education about genocide will help end ignorance of the problem and and bring us closer to the day when genocide will be a thing of the past. This Act is an important step in broadening our students’ education and moving toward the elimination of this crime. This is the third time that we have testified in favor of this bill.

The Genocide Problem (Maggie Quick)

According to the United Nations Convention on the Preventions and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, adopted on December 9, 1948, Genocide is defined as the attempt to destroy in whole or in part a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.” Genocide entails mass murder of innocent people - it is the most heinous crime known in history.

But genocide is not history.

Genocides still occur in our modern world. Cambodia, Guatemala, Iraq, Rwanda, Bosnia, Southern Sudan, Burma, and Darfur are some recent examples. By some estimates, in the last century more people have been killed by genocide than have died in warfare. In Darfur alone, out of a population of 6 million, approximately 400,000 have been killed and 3 million displaced.

Learning about the Holocaust, while necessary and important, is not enough.

The Need for Awareness (Miriam Massaad)

Genocide occurs because some dictators think that eliminating a group will help them keep power, and because they think they can get away with it.

Only international diplomacy and intervention can stop or prevent it.

The need for awareness by people all over the world is great, because leaders will only take steps against genocide if their constituents demand action.

This can only happen if citizens have learned about the issue. As the modern anti-genocide movement shows, when people understand and are aware of genocide, they insist that their governments do what they can to save lives.

The Importance of H 420 (Kalin Schultz)

The Massachusetts Frameworks shape what our students are taught in their history classes. Currently, the frameworks include the Holocaust. Few schools go beyond this. Students are often left with the impression that genocide is a historical tragedy not a modern one.

By requiring education about multiple genocides, House Bill 420 pushes educators to make the connection between the past and the present. This will lead students toward greater understanding of the issue, motivate them to follow global human rights issues, and lead them to become engaged and active citizens.

Conclusion (Troy Sherman)

The ultimate goal of genocide education is the end of genocide.

When people are engaged on the issue, they can make a difference. In Sudan, the government has targeted minority populations in Southern Sudan, Darfur, and other areas. The killing has diminished when the world has paid attention and pressured the Sudan government. International pressure forced Bashir to accept the creation of an independent Southern Sudan as a way to try to end his atrocities there. Less attention being paid recently has led to renewed attacks.

Once, groups of Americans organized against slavery. They worked toward an uncertain day when state-sanctioned slavery would be a phenomenon of the past. Today, the efforts to end genocide face a similar challenge. However, with initiatives such as House Bill 420, we can progress to that day, hopefully in our lifetime, when genocide will also be history.

We ask today for your active support of this important bill.

Sending Our Bones to DC

Today we sent our bones to Washington. Harwich High School students made about 300 bones during Peace Week to participate in the One Million Bones project that we learned about at the Sudan conference. The purpose of the project is to bring attention to the millions of victims of genocide around the world today. These bones will be displayed on the National Mall June 8-10. Unfortunately, we won't be able to attend as that is our graduation weekend, but our bones will be there. For more information visit onemillionbones.org

Carl Wilkens Visits Harwich High School

On Wednesday, April 24, Carl Wilkens visited Harwich High School to speak about Rwanda. Mr. Wilkens was the only American to stay in Rwanda during the genocide in 1994, during which he was able to save the lives of hundreds of orphans. After addressing an all-school assembly, Mr. Wilkens spent the rest of the day discussing his experiences with history classes, giving students a unique opportunity to interact with someone who acted heroically in the face of inhumanity. As our history classes study human rights and genocide, this experience immeasurably deepens their understanding of the subject. Mr. Wilkens was able to leave the students with many inspirational stories of courage and triumph as Rwanda today has become a rapidly developing and more egalitarian society. Mr. Wilkens also gave an evening talk on Thursday, April 25 for members of the community, presenting a new documentary about his experiences during the genocide. Harwich HS STAND (Students Taking Action Now: Darfur) invited Mr. Wilkens to HHS as part of Peace Week which STAND co-hosted with the GSA (Gay-Straight Alliance). HHS STAND would like to thank Mr. Wilkens for honoring us with his visit. A video of his presentation at the all-school assembly: A video of his interview with Mindy Todd on WCAI that afternoon:

HHS STAND DC Trip '13 - Day 3

Our last day in DC. We again got up early to head to the Silver Diner for breakfast before the conference, today with a special treat. Yesterday at the conference, I got a chance to talk to Carl Wilkens, one of my heroes, who is a major leader in the anti-genocide movement famous for being the only American to stay in Kigali, Rwanda during the genocide where he was able to shelter hundreds of orphans from the killings. We got to chatting about the national STAND movement, for which he is a new Board member. He agreed to meet us for breakfast to discuss the state to STAND today, from our perspective. It was an honor and a treat to spend an hour talking with him over omelets and pancakes. From there, we headed to Day 2 of the conference, again featuring expert panels on Sudan, including an interesting discussion on media coverage, and a talk featuring John Prendergast, head of the Enough Project, and Rich Williamson, former special envoy to Sudan under Pres. Bush. It was clear that national activists have been disappointed with Pres. Obama's lack of engagement on Sudan, and that we made more of a positive difference under Bush, esp. with Williamson. Mukesh Kapila was inspiring in his appeal to the urgency of the problem, and our highlight may have been Carl Wilkens closing speech - a dramatic connection of his experience with the importance of what we are working on with Sudan. As he emphasized, don't underestimate the power of a story. After lunch, we headed to Capitol Hill for some lobbying. The conference had prepared packets and talking points for us, and joining with a couple members of the Massachusetts Coalition to Save Darfur, we gave presentations to foreign policy staffers in Rep. Markey's and Sen. Warren's offices, and did drop bys at Rep. Keating's and Rep. Kennedy's offices. It was a great experience and the students learned to be effective advocates - ad libbing to enhance the presentations. We also got some instant results as we received an email from Rep. Markey's office informing us that he joined the Sudan Caucus! Because of a flight delay, we had time to visit the Museum of the American Indian, spend a little time at Union Station, then catch a train to the airport. It was a wonderful trip, even if we didn't get home until 1AM!

HHS STAND DC Trip '13 - Day 2

Sunday, we got up early, and left the hotel at 645 (545 by yesterday's time) to walk up Wilson Boulevard to Clarendon Square. After a wonderful breakfast at the Silver Diner, we walked over to George Mason University (Arlington Campus) which was hosting the summit. We registered and after a few words of greeting, we broke up into five groups for the first three breakout sessions. The first two allowed us to listen to presentations from a variety of Sudanese attending the summit - giving us direct accounts of the atrocities being committed in Darfur, Nuba Mountains, Blue Nile, and other regions. They clearly described the current approach of the Bashir regime to divide and destroy the marginalized peoples of Sudan - predominantly African peoples being oppressed by the Arabized central government. One of the most fascinating parts was the question period of each presentation which precipitated discussions among the Sudanese of various backgrounds. The summit really feels like part of a process of helping the marginalized peoples of Sudan come together to resist the brutal policies of Bashir. [Hannah and Bianca with Bahar Arabie - check out his book on Darfur] The last breakout session covered topics such as social media, lobbying, and arresting Bashir. After lunch, we met in the auditorium for a series of expert panels. The first may have been the most fascinating as representatives of four resistance organizations in Sudan discussed their experiences and strategies - these are the folks who are on the front lines literally of the struggle. After a couple panels, we walked back down Wilson Blvd to the Hyatt, and after some pizza, got picked up by our Royal Tour bus for the night monument tour. We were lucky to have picked the nicest evening of the year so far - they lifted the sides on the bus - at least for the first half of the tour. We got to see the White House, the FDR memorial, Lincoln, Korea, Vietnam, Iwo Jima. The highlight for me was my first visit to the MLK Memorial.

HHS STAND DC Trip '13 - Day 1

HHS STAND embarked on a trip to DC for March 9-11, 2013. After getting up early (~4am) to catch a 7am flight from Boston, we made it to the Hyatt Arlington by 9:45, and started our trek through DC. Our path started at the Iwo Jima Marine Memorial and then through Arlington National Cemetary, crossing the Potomac to the Lincoln Memorial and a walk up to the Washington Monument. We spent a couple hours visiting the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and then walked the mall to take a tour of the Capitol. [new statue of Rosa Parks, sitting on Lee's spot on the old House floor, staring down a statue of Jefferson Davis across the room] After a ride back to Arlington on the Metro and dinner at Ruby Tuesday, we had a discussion about Sudan and the conference and got to bed early, ready to lose an hour of sleep to daylight savings time.